Drink Brandy Tonight

To honor Our Lady and to commemorate Christian victories over the infidel Muslims as well as the pope’s triumph over Napoleon, you should drink a Napoleon brandy tonight and say this toast, “To Our Lady Help of Christians!  Through her prayers and patronage, may the enemies of our Holy Father and the Church meet their Waterloo!”

Feast of Mary Help of Christians is a Roman Catholic Marian devotion with a feast day celebrated on May 24.

The title of Mary Help of Christians is associated with the defense of Christian Europe (Latin and Greek), the north of Africa and the Middle East from non-Christian peoples during the Middle Age. In 1572, the Islamic Ottoman Empire intended to invade Christian Europe. Pope Pius V called Christian armies from all over Europe to defend the continent and asked the believers to pray to Mary in order to help the Christians. The defeat of the Muslim Turks was attributed to the intercession of Mary under this title.

The feast of Our Lady, Help of Christians, was instituted by Pope Pius VII. By order of Napoleon I of France, Pius VII was arrested on June 5, 1808, and detained a prisoner first at Grenoble, and then at Fontainebleau.^[5] In January 1814, after the battle of Leipzig, he was brought back to Savona and set free on March 17, on the eve of the feast of Our Lady of Mercy, the Patroness of Savona. The journey to Rome was a veritable triumphal march. The pontiff, attributing the victory of the Church after so much agony and distress to the Blessed Virgin, visited many of her sanctuaries on the way and crowned her images (e.g., the "Madonna del Monte" at Cesena, "della Misericordia" at Treja, "della Colonne" and "della Tempestà" at Tolentino). The people crowded the streets to catch a glimpse of the venerable pontiff who had so bravely withstood the threats of Napoleon. He entered Rome on May 24, 1814, and was enthusiastically welcomed.^[6] To commemorate his own sufferings and those of the Church during his exile Pope Pius VII extended the feast of the Seven Dolours of Mary to the universal Church on September 18, 1814.

When Napoleon left Elba and returned to Paris, Murat was about to march through the Papal States from Naples; Pius VII fled to Savona 22 March 1815.^[3] After the Congress of Vienna and the battle of Waterloo, the Pope returned to Rome on July 7, 1815. To gave thanks to God and Our Lady, on 15 September 1815 he declared 24 May, the anniversary of his first return, to be henceforth the feast of Our Lady, Help of Christians; the 1913 Catholic Encyclopaedia article commented that it has spread nearly over the entire Latin Church, but is not contained in the universal calendar.

The Marian feast was celebrated by the order of Servites since the 17th century. The veneration to Mary became popular under this title in Rome especially, where the feast was especially promulgated by Saint John Bosco and Saint Vincenzo Palotti^[7] St. John Bosco was an ardent promoter of devotion to "Mary, Help of Christians". He even built a huge Basilica in her honour in 1868 and founded a religious Congregation for women, under the title of, "The Daughters of Mary, Help of Christians".

Prayer to Our Lady Help of Christians

O Mary, most holy, I greet you as my gracious Queen and thank you for the countless blessings you have been showering on all those who come to you for help (mention your prayer request). Mary, powerful Virgin, you are the mighty and glorious protector of the Church. You are the marvelous help of Christians. You are awe-inspiring as an army in battle array. You eliminated heresy in the world. In the midst of my anguish, struggle and distress, defend me from the power of the enemy, and at the hour of my death receive my soul in heaven. I ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen.